Awakening (Covenant College #1)

by Amanda M. Lee

I went to the front of the building and found the directory listing. Professor Blake’s office was on the second floor. I was so amped up on adrenaline I took the steps two at a time. He had a lot of explaining to do.

  The office hallways were completely different from the classroom hallways. Instead of bland cement floors and walls, the office area was filled with warm chocolate walls and shiny hardwood floors. I wasn’t in the mood to admire the décor, though.

  I made my way down the hall until I found a placard identifying Professor Blake’s office. The door was closed – and I paused for a second. My upbringing told me that when you come across a closed door you knock. The dead guy going to ash the night before told me the exact opposite.

  I took a deep breath and threw open the door with such force it ricocheted back and hit the wall behind it with a resounding thunk. Professor Blake looked up in surprise. Luckily he was alone.

  “Just what the hell did you do last night?”

  For his part, Professor Blake didn’t let his surprise at my dramatic entrance drag him away from the papers he was grading. The words pretentious and douche were running through my head.

  Professor Blake raised his eyebrows at me briefly, but he didn’t speak. That was infuriating.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “My office hours aren’t for another hour. Come back then.”

  “And people say you have no sense of humor.”

  “Who says that?”

  No one had actually said that – but I had thought it a multitude of times. I decided to ignore his question.

  “Did you send one of your little friends to take me out last night?” Might as well just go for broke.

  Professor Blake looked surprised. He got to his feet and moved towards me. For a second, I thought he was going to try and finish the job. Instead, he moved past me and closed the door. He stopped momentarily as he was walking back towards his desk.

  “Define little friend,” he said, as he sat back in his seat.

  A bevy of nasty insults flooded my brain when he mentioned his little friend, but I figured calling his manhood into question probably wasn’t the best way to get the answers I was looking for.

  “Umm, let’s see, dark greasy hair, black clothes, oh, and murderous intent.” Sarcasm seemed like such a better way to go.

  “If I’m understanding you correctly, you were attacked?” Professor Blake’s nonchalance was beyond infuriating.

  “Isn’t that what I just said?”

  “No, not really.”

  I had a split-second fantasy of strangling him. Instead, I took a deep breath to calm myself.

  Blake motioned to the seats in front of his desk. “Why don’t you sit down and start from the beginning.”

  Instead I threw myself into one of the chairs with a dramatic sigh and then launched into the story from last night. When I got to the part about staking the man and him turning into ash, Professor Blake looked surprised.

  “You took him out? Alone? I’m impressed.”

  “It was a survival instinct. It’s not like I had any technique or anything,” I muttered bitterly.

  “Your instincts are your greatest asset.”

  “I thought that was my mind.”

  Despite himself, Professor Blake chuckled. “Your mind could be an asset. The way you use it, though, it’s definitely a deficit.”

  I was pretty sure I had been insulted. I decided to let it slide. “You’re saying you didn’t send him?”

  “I fight against vampires. I don’t use them as weapons.”

  “Vampires? We’re back to this again?”

  “After last night, you still doubt what I told you?”

  He had a point.

  “It’s just so . . . ridiculous.”

  “That’s what I thought, too.”

  “And now?”

  “Now? Now I’ve expanded my horizons.”

  He made it sound so easy.

  Professor Blake regarded me with his pale blue eyes for a second. “Are you ready to expand yours?”

  Oh, good grief.

  “Just so you know, this doesn’t mean I’m ready to join your cause. I’m just ready to learn more,” I cautioned him.

  “I guess that is a start.”

  Professor Blake ushered me out of his office.

  “Where are we going?” I was hoping he wasn’t some sort of a pervert.

  “The athletics building.”

  “Why?”

  “So you can broaden your horizons.”

  The athletics building was on the other side of campus and Blake offered to drive, but I opted to walk instead.

  “Still don’t trust me, I see.”

  “You could be some weird pervert.”

  “I guess that’s smart, from your perspective.”

  As we walked to the athletics building, Professor Blake kept asking me questions about the attack the night before.

  “Is there any way that the vampire could have known you would be out there alone?”

  “I don’t see how. That wasn’t even the door I meant to go out. We were going to the library. I just needed some air.”

  “You’re saying it was coincidence?”

  “I don’t know what else it could be.”

  “I have trouble believing in coincidences.”

  “I have trouble believing in vampires. So I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

  “For now.”

  I glanced over at Professor Blake. He seemed lost in thought.

  We made the rest of the trek to the athletics building in relative silence. I found there wasn’t a lot to say.

  When we got there, Professor Blake led me through the building to a locked door. He pulled a card out of his wallet and swiped it through the security panel. He opened the door and waited for me to enter ahead of him.

  I took a deep breath and stepped through the doors. I had a weird feeling – just for a moment – that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

  Twenty

  I don’t know what I was expecting on the other side of the doors – but everything looked ridiculously normal.

  White halls. Cement walls. Bright lights.

  “This is it?”

  Professor Blake must have noticed the incredulous tone of my voice. “What were you expecting?”

  “I don’t know. Hogwarts?”

  Professor Blake grimaced. “You need to stop basing all of your life decisions on television.”

  “I don’t. I read books and watch movies, too.”

  “You’re very sarcastic.”

  “It’s my super power.”

  “Flippant, too.”

  “I’m multi-talented.”

  “And massively irritating.”

  “If you think you’re the first person to tell me that, you would be mistaken.”

  “You always have to have the last word don’t you?”

  “Look who’s talking?”

  Professor Blake grunted in displeasure.

  I followed him down the winding halls until he reached the room he was obviously looking for. When we entered, I was surprised to see that it was filled with books.

  “What is this?”

  “The history of the supernatural. It’s our research area.”

  I walked over to the book shelves – which were arranged around a rectangular reading table in the center of the room – and perused the titles.

  “Someone actually writes non-fiction vampire books?”

  “Through the years. Yes.”

  “How?”

  “For many years, there were people that merely watched the supernatural and didn’t do anything to try and stop them.”

  “Like in the ‘Highlander’ television series? You’re Joe Dawson?”

  Professor Blake openly glared at me at this point. He was so easy. “I never watched the ‘Highlander’ television series.”

  “You should. Totally cool. Except the final season. That was crap.”

  “
I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “I have it on DVD if you want to borrow it.”

  I didn’t turn to look at Professor Blake, but something told me he wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of watching ‘Highlander’ DVDs.

  “Why did you bring me here? I’m not exactly in the mood to read.”

  “I figured I would show you everything. It’s always smart to start with the practical.”

  “Well, I’m practically unimpressed. This doesn’t prove anything – no matter how old some of these books are.”

  “Then let’s move on,” Blake responded crisply. I could tell I was on his last nerve.

  I silently followed him out of the room. “Where to next?” I asked brightly.

  Professor Blake led me to the staircase and headed down. When we got to the basement level, things looked more like I suspected. It was dark, dreary and cavernous.

  “See, now this is more like what I suspected.”

  “Glad I didn’t disappoint you.”

  We made our way through the hallway, passing by a couple of rooms before Blake stopped in front of a heavily ornate door.

  “What’s this? The potions lab?”

  “Let the ‘Harry Potter’ stuff go.”

  “How do you know I was talking about ‘Harry Potter’? I could have been referencing something else.”

  “Are you purposely trying to bait me?” Professor Blake snapped back.

  “Sometimes.”

  “It’s working.”

  “Good.”

  Professor Blake opened the door and ushered me in. I was surprised by what I found. The room was big. Huge, in fact. There were shelves placed around the room that held a variety of different weapons. And, when I say weapons, we’re not talking handguns. Instead I saw a multitude of knives, swords and even a couple different hammer-like objects. The center of the room had gymnastics mats spread out.

  “This is the training room.”

  “Training for what? The Renaissance Festival?”

  “Combat.”

  “Combat with who?”

  “Supernaturals.”

  “Vampires?”

  “And werewolves.”

  “Right. Werewolves.” My voice was laced with sarcasm. I knew I should probably try to refrain from antagonizing Professor Blake too much – and yet my natural instincts were to continue pushing him.

  “I don’t understand why this is so hard for you,” Professor Blake seemed perplexed.

  “You don’t understand why it is so hard for me to idly chat about fighting vampires and werewolves?”

  “You come from an area that is infested with werewolves. They even wrote a song about it.”

  “That song is about Bigfoot.”

  “No, that song is about dog men.”

  “So, you’re saying that werewolves exist and Bigfoot doesn’t?”

  Professor Blake seemed genuinely surprised by the question. “That’s actually a good point.”

  “Wait, so Bigfoot is real?”

  “Anything is possible.”

  I thought about his answer for a second. After what I’d seen the night before, I guess I could believe that.

  “So, someone here actually trains people to fight vampires?”

  “We have a lot of trainers. You must keep in mind, it’s not just vampires. There are different ways to kill different supernatural species.”

  “Like what?”

  “Obviously you’ve figured out a stake to the heart kills a vampire. But there are other ways.”

  “Like what?”

  “I couldn’t possibly go into all the different ways. We have classes to teach this.”

  “Classes?”

  “Yes. Classes.”

  “Great. More classes. Sounds like tons of fun.”

  “There’s one more thing I want you to see.”

  I followed Blake out of the room and down the dark hall again. We didn’t have far to go. Two doors down Blake knocked and then opened the door. I was surprised by what I saw inside. There were twenty different students sitting at desks and watching a woman as she lectured from the front of the room.

  “Professor Blake,” the woman greeted him with a flirtatious smile.

  I took in the woman for a second. She looked young. Mid-twenties, at the most. She had long auburn hair that was swept up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. She also had a round and appealing face that broke into a wide smile when she saw Professor Blake.

  “Hello, Professor Worth. I just wanted to bring a new candidate by to see what we do.”

  I didn’t recognize any of the students in the class – who were mostly boys – but they all sat up straighter as they regarded me. None of them seemed impressed.

  “This must be Zoe Lake,” Professor Worth said by way of greeting. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “You have?”

  Professor Worth looked surprised by my question. “Of course . . . “ she broke off. “You have a great pedigree.”

  “I’m sorry, what does that mean?”

  Professor Blake shook his head at Professor Worth and then turned to me. “I think she has you confused with someone else.”

  “She knew my name.”

  Professor Blake glared at Professor Worth for a second. “We have several candidates. She just must have confused your name with someone else’s information.”

  “You’re lying.”

  The rest of the students gasped in surprise. I guess they weren’t used to anyone questioning Professor Blake.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “You’re not even very good at it. For someone leading a covert group of monster hunters, you’d think you’d be better at lying.”

  “Can we take this outside?”

  “No.”

  “What?”

  “I’m done. I’m not listening to any more of your crap. This is a weird place. You’re a weird guy. This is all just . . . ridiculous.”

  I swung around and stormed out of the room. The minute I left I could hear the students murmuring amongst themselves.

  I moved quickly down the hall. I could hear Professor Blake saying something to my back as I left, but I ignored him.

  I made my way out of the building, exiting the athletics center from the first door I could find. I was surprised when I left. It was dark. I’d spent the entire day with Professor Blake and his lies.

  My stomach rumbled. I’d also spent the entire day without eating anything.

  I started towards the dorms – the whole time internally lambasting myself for falling for Professor Blake and his lies. There was definitely something going on at Covenant College, but I wasn’t going to ally myself with a bunch of liars to figure out what that was. Professor Worth’s comments about my pedigree were also frustrating. What did she mean by that?

  I was so engrossed in my own thoughts I didn’t notice a shadowy figure appear on the sidewalk in front of me. I slammed into him.

  The figure grabbed my shoulders to keep me from falling backwards.

  “Sorry,” I sputtered.

  “No problem.”

  I recognized the voice.

  “Rafael?”

  “Zoe.”

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “Walking back to the dorms.”

  “Where are you coming from?”

  “The athletics center.” I didn’t see any reason to lie.

  “What were you doing there?” Rafael’s eyes had narrowed as he waited for my answer.

  “Working out.”

  Rafael regarded me for a moment, taking in my jeans and hoodie, and then shook his head slightly. “You worked out in that?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “Just curious.”

  He was lying. For a second, I wondered if he knew what was really going on at the activities center. Then another thought crossed my mind. His cold skin. The fact that I’d only seen him after dark.

&nb
sp; “Oh crap. You’re a vampire!”

  Rafael looked surprised – but only for a second.

  “That’s a weird thing to say.”

  “You’re not denying it.”

  “You think I look like a vampire?”

  “Well, you’re not sparkling or anything.”

  Rafael didn’t respond.

  “How are you so tan if you’re a vampire?”

  “I’m from Spain . It was summer when I was turned.” He wasn’t trying to hide anything now.

  “When was that?”

  “Awhile ago.”

  “Vague much?”

  “I don’t know you.”

  “So, if you knew me you would tell me?”

  “Depends,” he smiled. God his dimples were cute. “If I decide you’re trustworthy.”

  “Why aren’t you trying to eat me?”

  Rafael looked surprised. “I’m not hungry.” I think he thought I was joking.

  “So you’re not mindless eating machines?”

  “That would be Great White sharks – not vampires.”

  I furrowed my brow in surprise. “Great White sharks?”

  “I like ‘Shark Week.’ You can learn a lot.”

  Crap. I liked ‘Shark Week,’ too.

  “The vampire I met last night tried to eat me.”

  Rafael looked surprised by this. His arm shot out and he grabbed my wrist harshly. “What happened?”

  “Ow,” I tried to pull my arm away from him.

  “What happened?” I felt like his gaze was trying to bore through me.

  “What is your deal?”

  Rafael looked surprised. He let go of my wrist reluctantly. This time, when he asked the question, his voice had softened. “What happened?”

  I told him an abbreviated version of the story, my gaze never leaving his face.

  A miasma of emotions seemed to pass over Rafael’s face as I told my tale, but he never interrupted me. When I was done he finally spoke. “You need to be careful.”

  “What?”

  “You’re getting a lot of attention on campus.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. Don’t you?”

  The comment about my pedigree flooded through my mind for a second, but I decided not to tell Rafael about that. He was a vampire, after all. “I’m just a girl.”

  “You’re more than just a girl.”

  “What am I then?”

  “I don’t know. You just need to be careful.”